NEWS

Clinical Trial Matching Tool Debuts

A breast-cancer clinical trial matching tool under development at UCSF is now available at http://www.BreastCancerTrials.org.

The pilot project is sponsored by the NCI, the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and the Center of Excellence for Breast Cancer Care. Women who participate in the service are guided through a process of creating a personal health record, within a secure database, that summarizes their cancer diagnosis and treatment.

The database also includes a registry of breast cancer clinical trials with associated eligibility criteria. Trials are matched to patient data, and patients are notified of any matches that occur. They can then choose to contact researchers to learn more about these trials and, if interested, release their health record directly to a researcher for further review of eligibility. Participants have access to system support by email or phone.

BreastCancerTrials.org currently includes only trials located in the greater San Francisco Bay Area and Sacramento, though it will be open to patients anywhere in the country. Future plans call for expanding the database of clinical trials to cover studies nationwide.

For more information about the initiative, contact project leader Ellyn Glazer Cohen, PhD, 885-3605 or elly.cohen@ucsfmedctr.org.

Please visit this page again soon for updates on future events!